Cellular telephone handsets having internal antennas are well known and have substantial appeal among consumers, likely because internal antennas are housed completely within the handset body or housing where the antennas are invisible and inaccessible to the user, thus providing communication handsets free of protrusions, which tend to interfere with the comfortable handling and ready storage thereof. Internal antennas having improved performance are thus important, particularly for cellular handsets.
Cellular handsets having replaceable housings and cover portions also have substantial consumer appeal because replaceable housings and cover portions enable consumers to change the cosmetic appearance of the cellular handset at a relatively low cost. Handset platforms having multiple different housings and housing portions interchangeably mountable on a common electronic handset body also have appeal to manufactures, which may use the different housings to differentiate between product lines without changing relatively costly hardware.
Antenna tuning and performance is related generally to the shape, size and composition of the housing, particularly portions thereof that cover portion of the antenna, particularly internal antennas. Thus, depending on antenna type and location, replaceable housings have the potential to affect antenna performance. To compensate for the different loading effects of different housings, the antennas may require tuning to obtain optimal performance, but tuning is a procedure that must be done by the manufacturer or a technician.
The various aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon careful consideration of the following Detailed Description of the Invention with the accompanying drawings described below.